


Prompt# 98: "Take a deep breath."

by Xylianna



Series: Xy's 100 Ways Challenge [12]
Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Angst, F/M, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 19:30:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15564849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xylianna/pseuds/Xylianna
Summary: Cross posted onTumblr.





	Prompt# 98: "Take a deep breath."

**Author's Note:**

  * For [runicmagitek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/gifts).



> Cross posted on [Tumblr](https://xylianna.tumblr.com/).

He found the wreckage on the grassy plain between Tzen and the mountain range shielding Vector.

Setzer walked through the debris, his violet eyes wide and wild. This couldn’t be happening. This was a dream. He’d wake up any minute now.

Pinching himself violently did not, however, cause the landscape to shift. He still stood in the middle of the Falcon’s debris, and no amount of willing himself to awaken was going to change the reality of the situation.

For one long year he had searched. For once, he and Daryl’s parents were of one mind, one goal - find their wayward daughter, find Setzer’s missing love. Her family had rained down money into Setzer’s coffers, ensuring he didn’t have to take on any paying work that would distract him from this all-important task.

Setzer knelt, wincing when the edge of a broken propeller cut into his thigh. He picked up a bit of tarnished metal, a wistful smile arching tremulous lips when he realized it was the ship’s nameplate.

_The Falcon._

He’d commissioned it from the finest metalsmith that could be found away from their hometown, giving it to Daryl after her maiden flight was successfully completed.

‘You just can’t stop trying to pretty up my bird, can you?’ Daryl had teased him, but she’d affixed the gleaming metal to the podium housing the ship’s controls, kissing him soundly in thanks and ensuring their work was done for the day as they christened the deck properly.

Setzer stood and continued walking. His gut was tense with discomfort, expecting at any moment to find what mangled remains would still be untouched - uneaten by local animals and monsters, and not decomposed - after a year’s time.

He found her flight goggles and a broken sob choked him. Picking them up, he continued his survey.

_Take a deep breath_. Setzer struggled to get air as Daryl’s bright purple windscarf - ‘it reminds me of your eyes, babe’ - caught his attention. He grasped the heavy cotton fabric, lifting it and winding it around his own neck.

Fuck. It smelled like her. But that was impossible; his memory was playing tricks on him.

Setzer began to sort the wreckage. There wasn’t much that was salvageable, but it gave him something to do, something to keep his hands busy in an effort to keep his mind from spiraling further into darkness. As the sunlight waned into dusk, he was forced to give up. Eschewing the safety of the Blackjack, Setzer pitched a tent in the middle of the debris riddled meadow.

He felt closer to her here, where her bird lay shattered around him.

When Setzer finally succumbed to sleep, his dreams were of flying high, racing and taunting, laughing and loving.

Of happier times, when the world was theirs to explore; the sky was their playground and no one could catch them, not there.

When he was pulled from sleep the next morning, it was from water dripping onto his face. Great. The tent had a leak. No matter; the rain suited his mood.

After shrugging into his voluminous coat - ‘you look ridiculous in that get-up… any more embroidery and you’d be the image of a Jidoorian tapestry’ - Setzer twined Daryl’s scarf around his neck and shoulders before going out into the storm.

Sleep hadn’t changed things. There was still no sign of Daryl. No broken corpse for him to weep over; no body to take home and entomb in the crypt her parents had commissioned outside of the city.

Setzer continued to sort through the rubble methodically. His stomach rumbled, but the idea of food sickened him. He did pause at midday to drink some water and managed to eat a couple bites of cheese, but he returned to his task relentlessly.

The rain clouds cleared up and hot afternoon sunlight beamed down. It warmed Setzer enough that he shrugged out of his coat and rolled up his sleeves, but he kept her scarf on as he worked. He began to carry piles of usable material back to the Blackjack, stowing it in the cargo hold.

Maybe he couldn’t get his beloved back. But he could restore her ship.

This time when the sun set, Setzer retired to his ship. He tossed and turned in that too large, too empty bed, and finally gave up on sleep, instead staring up at the ceiling. 

There were already so many memories of her everywhere Setzer looked, but it was as if loading the broken remains of the Falcon had intensified her presence. Setzer wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry, and indeed the rough, heaving sobs that shook his wiry shoulders were a mixture of both. 

Setzer got out of bed and climbed the ladder to the main deck, going to the controls and beginning his pre-flight check, grateful he’d done it often enough for it to be rote at this point. The clouds had come back, and he couldn’t see the moon or stars. No matter… he had no set course.

He just needed to fly.

Launching, Setzer pushed the throttle to its max, attaining high altitude faster than was prudent. He picked a direction at random, turned the nose of the ship towards it, and set the ship to auto-pilot.

Setzer walked towards the starboard side of the deck, and stared into the empty sky where the Falcon should be flying alongside his ship.

‘How long you plan on hanging back there? Aren’t you gonna try to pass me?’

His feet carried him to the prow, and Setzer tipped back his head and closed his eyes. The wind chilled the tears coursing down his cheeks, but he was grateful for the sensation. It grounded him amidst the torrent of memory.

‘All right, it's time to get serious. I'm gonna break the records! I'll fly past the clouds and see the stars closer than anyone ever has before!’

“What are you trying to prove by pushing your ship to the limits?” Setzer said bitterly into the night, repeating those words he’d spoken a year ago. “It’s pointless.”

She’d argued that she needed to know what the Falcon could take, but he’d known it was all for fun. And why not? She was seventeen and invincible. She was gloriously fearless.

She was stubborn, and her hubris had robbed Setzer of the only thing he’d cared about aside from his ship.

Daryl had been the only person he loved, the only one he trusted, and she’d fucking thrown it all away - gambled her very life - on a lark.

Here, in the starless night, winds buffeting his slim body, Setzer could admit he was angry.

He was _furious_.

Stalking back to the controls, Setzer consulted his compass. He changed the heading, making his way in the direction he expected to find Jidoor once the clouds cleared. 

Stewing in his anger, in his sadness, was pointless. He’d go home, he’d inform her family.

He’d restore the Falcon and lay it to rest near that tomb her parents were having built.

And then he’d fly away from that place and never look back.

**Author's Note:**

> I used several quotes from the DS version of the game, since that's the screenshots my Google search resulted in. 
> 
> I listened to [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oToBRs-DPEg&list=PLyMfMUuUpOtAdykMJgZLzXAMOF0W7W7xl&index=1) on repeat. 
> 
> Thanks for reading. Consider leaving a kudos? It takes two seconds, but makes my day. Leaving a comment makes you the true unsung hero. <3


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